


A Shared Glass and Memories Told

by Merfilly



Series: Hatching a Future [5]
Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-12
Updated: 2016-09-12
Packaged: 2018-08-14 17:55:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8023504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: Narcissa and Robinton share a drink and discuss the mischief they managed as students.





	A Shared Glass and Memories Told

**Author's Note:**

> prompt: mischief managed

Robinton was sitting in his study, contemplating the wine on his desk, when there was a knock, and just as quickly, the door opening.

He reached back for a second goblet and was already pouring the wine into it when Narcissa Malfoy settled in the second, luxurious chair that she had placed in there weeks prior.

"What brings you here at this hour, my friend?" Robinton asked, secure in the use of that word now that nearly half the year had passed, with each leaning into the other's experience to keep the school operating properly.

"Chasing a pair of second years back to their beds," Narcissa said, drawing her robe tighter before accepting the wine. "They were investigating a rumor of a hidden treasure up in the ruined tower."

Robinton laughed softly. "At least they were still in the castle then, as opposed to following whispers of magical potions hidden in the Forest, or perfect charms to be found along the shore of the Lake."

Narcissa gave a faint smile. "Truth. Were we ever so young?"

"My dear, you still are that young." Robinton's eyes twinkled brightly at her. 

"Hmm." She sipped at her wine, considering him a long moment. "What was the worst trouble you sought out during your years as a student?" she challenged him.

"I don't suppose sleeping in the Slytherin rooms with my partner counts?" Robinton asked, just to see if he could shock her.

"You would have made a good Slytherin," she said with a glitter in her eyes at the idea. He shook his head. 

"No, I was too busy thinking up the ways to make Falloner's plans work properly. Leave the dreaming to him, and the planning to me," he answered. "As to mischief… I think the best prank may be the very reason McGonagall invited me back."

"This I have to hear. She was a very stern woman when I attended," Narcissa said. "Though I am learning she is not quite so fierce now that I am a professor as well."

Robinton nodded. "I befriended her after I graduated, so I have known this. However, that prank was a matter of convincing all of the portraits to swap locations for a night, so that when the day began, and everyone wandered into their mornings, none of them were greeted by the portraits they best knew. As many students navigate by portraits, calling to them to help them find their way… most first and second years were late to first classes."

Narcissa stared at him; she knew first hand how charming and convincing he could be; he'd personally recruited her to come to Hogwarts after all. "Part of me wants to ask how, but I know how. You are infernally charismatic. I want to know why."

Robinton sipped his wine, smiling craftily at her. "So that Fal had time to set a stink charm in the Potions classroom, as Professor Slughorn was distracted with chasing down his students," he admitted.

Narcissa could not help but laugh. "What had the professor done to your partner?"

"Called his potions 'adequate but lacking in ambition'," Robinton answered that, enjoying the way Narcissa winced. That was a deadly insult in Slytherin terms, and she understood immediately.

"Did they ever figure it out?" she asked curiously.

"The stink charm, no. It was deemed as being someone taking opportunity as presented, and the professor had upset a number of students on the exam." He swirled his wine a bit and took a deep swallow of it before answering. "Peeves tattled on me. He was upset that I'd disrupted more of a day than he ever had."

Narcissa drank her wine at that, nodding. That one would have been jealous of such a prank. She then set the empty goblet down, arching an eyebrow. He promptly refilled it for her.

"Will you tell me yours?"

"Robinton, I'll have you know I was a model student," she told him, but her eyes were laughing, and he smiled, settling back in his chair.

"So which of your siblings was fingered as the culprit for your trick?"

Narcissa smiled in what might have been a most evil manner on other faces. Robinton was reminded of his late, dear Larna, who was more than capable of deeply cutting mischief with lessons imparted on her victims.

"Actually, Lucius came under suspicion for what I had done, and it was in ferreting out the truth that led him to begin his courting of me," she answered that, with a fond voice for the man her husband had been. That he was not himself any longer was something she had locked away, much as she kept him sequestered in the Malfoy family home with Draco's reluctant assistance. "As to what I did… I acquired the necessary ingredients to concoct a vaporous compulsion potion, one that had everyone in the common room spilling their secret thoughts. It took a bit of time for it to wear off, and gave Lucius quite a bit of fodder for his own machinations."

Robinton chuckled. "How very Slytherin of you, my friend." He tipped his own wine back, and set about filling his own glass, emptying the bottle in the doing. "Quite the opening move in snaring your husband."

"Thank you," she said, having come to understand that Robinton was more than familiar with Slytherin tactics. Her research into his late partners, and actually discreetly talking to Manora Macmillan about the man had revealed he had fully thrown himself into Falloner Macmillan's political career as he pursued his own research. What she had learned so far, what she knew of Robinton, was one more reason to curse that Voldemort truly had not had any proper thought on how to reshape their world, killing off some of the brightest wix out of the oldest bloodlines.

They sat in companionable silence then, each finishing their wine without haste, but the goblets settled on the desk almost in the same breath.

"Allow me to walk you back?" Robinton offered.

Narcissa inclined her head for the offer. "I do believe that suits me, Robinton." She rose, and let him settle his own robe more decorously, before taking his arm and letting him escort her. There were reasons that she sought him out in her sleepless moments, reasons that had much to do with her loneliness as Draco moved toward adulthood and Lucius failed to recover fully. For all that Robinton would never be part of the social circle she most craved to be part of, he was fast becoming a true friend, something Narcissa had not realized she ached to have.

Fortunately, he was as generous with his friendship for her as he was with his paternal care for his prized student, letting her treasure it fully.


End file.
